


Past Time

by potentiality_26



Category: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
Genre: Community: older_not_dead, M/M, Post-Canon, Sexual Tension, Sparring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-12-31 17:55:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12137940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potentiality_26/pseuds/potentiality_26
Summary: It was the Vikings again, and a long day of politicking was enough to make him miss the old days- or at least claim to.  Tristan- as Arthur was still getting used to actually calling him, even after all these years- would snort at that.  Life wasn’t simpler back then, it just smaller.  Arthur could run away right now, and his life still wouldn’t be simple.How true that was didn’t keep Arthur from thinking about it sometimes- running away.  Maybe even running away with someone in particular.An overdue conversation.





	Past Time

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the older_not_dead Promptathon 29 (Giving Up) prompt: giving up the pretense they aren’t attracted to each other. 
> 
> I had trouble with the ages here because I suspect Arthur is meant to be younger than Charlie Hunnam (who IMDB tells me is 37), but I couldn't guess how much. I just went vague in terms of how long it's been since the end of the movie. Certainly five years, but possibly more. I actually had this done in time to post during the original promptathon, but I decided to wait until I got a chance to see the movie again- which is good, because I'd gotten a ton of details wrong. So I'm posting for the amnesty instead.

“You’re distracted,” Bill said.

Arthur made a noise of agreement.  Bill had him pinned to the floor of the otherwise empty training room, clever fingers around his wrists like manacles, their faces hardly a breath apart.  It was very distracting.

Bill let him go.  “Another round?” he asked.

Arthur shrugged and sat up only a little, crooking his knees and propping his elbows on them.  He had been king for a long time now- and sometimes the trade negotiations went as if he had been crowned only yesterday.  It was the Vikings again, and a long day of politicking was enough to make him miss the old days- or at least claim to.  Tristan- as Arthur was still getting used to actually calling him, even after all these years- would snort at that.  Life wasn’t simpler back then, it just smaller.  Arthur could run away right now, and his life still wouldn’t be simple.

How true that was didn’t keep Arthur from thinking about it sometimes- running away.  Maybe even running away with someone in particular.

When Arthur wanted to spar, to remind himself that he couldn’t rely exclusively on the power of the sword in a fight, it was George or Bedivere he normally trained with.  But after a long day of politics, when his fingers were sparking and he itched for a fight, he always picked Bill.  Bill might have been a knight of old like Bedivere, but he hadn’t let it keep him too honorable.  He fought dirty, and his style was forever changing, forever unfamiliar- which was how Arthur liked it.  If only being that close to him didn’t make Arthur itch for other things instead.      

“You’re quiet too,” Bill said.  Arthur knew that Bill didn’t mind a silence he couldn’t fill- he wouldn’t have gotten far with his shooting- not to mention his various resistance activities- if he couldn’t handle a little quiet.  But Arthur knew he had a reputation for coming up with crazy ideas when left alone with his thoughts for too long.  That was probably what Bill was worried about.   

Arthur didn’t think he was entirely wrong to be worried.  “I’ve been thinking,” he said at last.

Sure enough, Bill’s mouth twisted.  “That’s rarely a good sign, my king.”  

Tristan and George and some of the others still just called him Boss much of the time, and from one of them Arthur would have taken the changeover to ‘king’ as an attempt to take the sting out of his needling.  But this was Bill.  He had called Arthur that for a long time- and he had always treated it less like a title and more like a pet-name of his own devising.  And he never bothered to take the sting out of needling at all.  They’d seen too much together, the two of them. 

And Arthur was beginning to be tired of it- this place where everything they had done- and not done- had led them.  Not their friendship, he would never tire of that, but... the extent of it.

Bill was beside him now, close enough that their knees brushed occasionally.  When Arthur could feel his heat like this, could turn and see the gleam of sweat on the hollow of his throat like this, it felt like a battle to smile and joke and not ask for more.  A battle Arthur had grown tired of fighting.

He took a breath and moved, just a little, just enough that his knee stayed against Bill’s and their shins pressed lightly together. 

“I’ve been thinking that it’s time we stopped trying to ignore _this_.”  He put just a little more pressure on Bill’s shin.

“Ah,” Bill said quietly. 

There wasn’t any need to say much else.  Bill knew as well as anyone that Arthur flirted here and there but hadn’t seriously taken a lover since he became king.  There were plenty of reasons to avoid it- secrets were hard to keep surrounded by attendants day and night as a king was, and the offers of marriage to solidify alliances and trade deals had been numerous.  Arthur knew if the realm’s prosperity faltered he might have to take one of them.  It didn’t seem likely, since things had been good thus far and Arthur had no intention of marrying a woman unwilling.  And these women- girls, most of them- were often dragged in by their wrists behind fathers who quickly found King Arthur a much tougher negotiator even than they had heard.  Still, the things he felt where Bill was concerned were... inconvenient politically, and so ignoring them had seemed the wisest choice- which didn’t mean it had ever been a very pleasant one. 

Bill kept silent for another moment.  There could be no doubt that he knew what Arthur was talking about, no doubt that he had felt Arthur underneath him as they sparred and known that Arthur always wanted to draw him closer rather than push him away.  There could also be no doubt that he felt, if not the same, certainly similarly.  Arthur had seen it in the heat of his gaze and felt it in the strength of his grip, many times.  Finally, Bill said, “Shall we have that other round, then?”

And that was Bill all over.

He had decided something, Arthur could see that too.  It was how Bill was- he made his decisions and he never looked back, never hesitated.  Arthur knew an answer was coming, but not which.  Would they keep the walls of pretense up between, or finally let them fall?

“All right,” Arthur said.

It was Bill who pulled himself up first, Bill who stretched out a hand for Arthur in turn.  Arthur had always liked the touch of Bill’s hand- the roughness of his callouses, the coolness of his ring, the firmness of his grip- but pretending not to be tempted, not to want more, had become habit now.  Even once the faint edge of longing that had always been between them was out in the open, it was easier to let go of Bill right off than to linger, or to let his thumb smooth over the back of Bill’s hand. 

Maybe that was for the best, though.  He still didn’t know Bill’s answer.  Bill might have thought on his own reasons for not acting on this desire that always hung in the air between them.  He might have concluded that things should remain as they were.

Sparring between them was always quick, little time spent plotting and circling- which was interesting because Bill did little but plot the rest of the time.  He relied on speed and the element of surprise in a fight.  Usually Arthur could win the day with brute strength and a few surprises of his own, but not always.

And not today. 

He hit the floor again soon enough, with Bill’s thumbs brushing against the inside of his wrists and Bill’s knees on either side of his waist.  “Well, well,” Bill said, a sly twitch to his lip.  When the motion of his thumb teased out a faint shudder, Bill’s eyes heated promisingly.  “Is this what you were hoping for?”

“It’s... closer.  Only-” It wasn’t like Bill to wait for permission, which meant that wasn’t what he was waiting for at all.  Arthur gave smirk of his own and rolled, using his superior weight to pin Bill to the floor instead.  

Bill looked neither surprised nor alarmed to find Arthur now on top of him.  “Is _this_ , then?”

Arthur smiled.  “It’s a start.”

Bill was silent for another moment.  Finally he said, “Then we should see where it leads, my king.”

Arthur smiled and rolled again, off of Bill this time.  He rose, only to stick out a hand to help Bill up in turn.  What was to come would be worth the wait, he was sure.

For now he let his touch linger. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come see me on [tumblr](http://potentiality-26.tumblr.com/).


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